Hundreds of Colombians flocked on Friday to pay their respects to the painter and sculptor Fernando Botero, who died on September 15, at the beginning of a week of ceremonies honoring one of the great artists of the 20th century in his country.
Botero’s body will be laid to rest in Bogota after his arrival, Thursday evening, from Monaco, where the artist died at the age of 91 as a result of pneumonia.
The first ceremony was held in front of a crowd of representatives, senators and members of his family, and his daughter, Lina Botero, said: “We feel very moved and deeply grateful for the testimonies of affection, appreciation and gratitude to my father.”
She added, “Bringing my father back to his homeland one last time so that Colombians could say goodbye to him was one of our warmest wishes.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ivan Nami, praised the artist, whom he described as a “cosmic Colombian,” and said that Botero “stopped the world for a moment…and he did so with his brush and hands, when he succeeded in drawing a different world, a world that reflects the reality of his country, but also contains the secret keys to the human mind.” .
Citizens then stood in a long line since the afternoon to bow before the coffin of the most famous Colombian artist in the world.
Mercedes Rojas, a retired bacteriologist, said she treasured Botero’s “portrayal of daily life in Colombia… of the family, of a day in the countryside, of the woman, of the priest, of the people.”
“Botero is immortal, his work and his name are already written in golden letters the size of Picasso and Van Gogh,” said Santiago Soto, a 56-year-old actor and painter while waiting in line.
The body of the artist, who was famous for his large-scale figures, will lie in state until Sunday in Bogota, in the heart of the historic center of the Colombian capital.
Botero, along with Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez, was one of the most famous Colombians in the world. His works were exhibited all over the world, and were sold at auctions in New York and London at prices reaching $4.3 million.
Botero donated dozens of his works and paintings from his private collection, including paintings by Picasso, Monet, Renoir and Miró, to the museums of Medellin and Bogota.
His sculptures are displayed outdoors in many cities around the world, as the artist considered that displaying works in public spaces was a “revolutionary rapprochement” of art with the public.
